Inside The 1890 House Museum: Exploring Cortland's Gilded Age Mansion Before the Investigation

Before you can investigate a location, you have to understand it. That's something I've believed since the early days of TAPS, and it's exactly why we spent serious time walking through The 1890 House Museum in Cortland, New York before we ever turned off the lights. Built in 1890 by industrialist Chester F. Wickwire, this stone mansion is one of the most impressive historic homes I've had the privilege of stepping inside — and trust me, the history here runs deep.

I've walked through a lot of buildings over the years. Asylums, prisons, lighthouses, hotels that have seen more than their share of tragedy. But there's something about a family home — especially one this grand — that hits differently. The 1890 House isn't just a museum. It's a preserved window into a very specific moment in American history, the Gilded Age, when industrialists like Chester Wickwire were building empires and weren't shy about showing it. From the moment you pull up and see that massive stone exterior and the tower rising above the roofline, you understand that whoever built this place had a point to make.

Chester Wickwire made his fortune in wire goods manufacturing, and he poured that wealth into this home in a way that's hard to fully appreciate until you're standing inside it. The woodwork alone is extraordinary — hand-carved details throughout the rooms that would be nearly impossible to replicate today. Each room has its own character, its own story. We spent time with the staff learning about the Wickwire family, who lived here, who worked here, and what life in this house actually looked like during its heyday. That kind of context matters enormously to me. When something happens during an investigation — a sound, a temperature drop, a piece of equipment triggering — knowing the history of a location gives you a framework for evaluating it. Is that a draft from a poorly sealed window in a 130-year-old house, or is it something else? You can't make that call without understanding the building first.

My approach has always been skeptic-first. I walk into every location looking for the rational explanation before I even begin to consider a paranormal one. A house like this — old stone construction, multiple floors, a tower, rooms that have been modified and restored over more than a century — is full of potential natural explanations for the kinds of experiences people report. Settling sounds, air movement through original woodwork joints, the way sound travels differently through stone walls than through modern construction. All of that goes into my mental file before the investigation begins. The tour phase isn't just interesting background — it's essential groundwork. I want to know where every door leads, which floors creak and why, what the original layout looked like versus what's been changed. The more I know about the building, the better I can evaluate what happens once the lights go out.

What struck me most during our walk-through was how lived-in this place still feels, even as a museum. The Wickwire family's presence is still very much embedded in the architecture, in the choices made about how each room was designed and used. There's a weight to that kind of history. Whether or not that weight has anything to do with paranormal activity is exactly the question we came here to answer. The 1890 House has a reputation, and the staff shared accounts of experiences that have been reported over the years. I listened carefully, took notes, and kept my conclusions open. That's the only honest way to do this work. The tour gave us everything we needed to go into the investigation with clear eyes and a solid foundation. Now it was time to see what this house was actually hiding.

The 1890 House is a genuinely remarkable piece of American history, and understanding its story made our investigation all the more meaningful. Whether the reported experiences here have paranormal origins or earthly explanations, the only way to find out is to do the work — and we came prepared to do exactly that. The investigation episode is coming, and after everything we learned on this tour, I can tell you it's one you're not going to want to miss.